Jonah

Chapter 3 - Nineveh
Overturned

3:2 "Get up1!
Go2 to Nineveh, the great3
city, and cry out4 to it the message4
I give you."

3:3 And Jonah got up1
and went2 to Nineveh according to the
word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh, a city important3
to God17, required three days to visit
it.

Back to the Beginning

These versus parallel the first
couple of versus of chapter one. After Jonah had gone through
all that he had, he was confronted with the same instructions
as before, with one slight change. In the beginning God asked
Jonah to cry out "against" (aleyha) Nineveh.
Now Jonah was asked to cry out "to" (eleyha)
Nineveh. A subtle change. Aleyha means "against"
with a downward intimation. Eleyha means "towards."
The significance of this slight change in wording is not clear.
Perhaps some change had occurred in Nineveh that warranted a
slightly different message than was appropriate before Jonah
set out on his escape.

Only Jonah Will Do

God was insistent upon using
Jonah for this mission. None other would do. When Queen Esther
resisted going to her husband, the Persian king, to intercede
for the Jews, her uncle Mordecai told her,

"For if you remain silent
at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews
from another place and you and your father's house will perish.
And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such
a time as this?" (Esther 4:14).

Further, God's plans are not
even dependent upon human beings. When Jesus entered Jerusalem
and was hailed with Messianic references, He told his critics
that the stones themselves would announce Him if the people did
not (Luke 19:40). But when Jonah ran from his assignment God
did not just write him off and call another to take his place.
There were probably several other prophets God could have chosen
and prepared who would have willingly preached to Nineveh. God
could have prepared another prophet from before Creation just
as He had done with the fish. But God insisted on Jonah.

Why would God insist on Jonah
- one so out of sync with God's heart - for this mission? Perhaps
the reason lies in Jonah as a type for Israel. When the Apostle
Paul gave his defense before the people in Jerusalem everyone
listened to his testimony with interest until he said that the
Lord had told him, "Go! For I will send you far away to
the Gentiles" (Acts 22:21). With that statement the Jews
immediately reacted with disgust and called for Paul's death
(Acts 22:22). Jonah represents the Jews who were disgusted that
anyone would even suggest God would reach out to the Gentiles.
They would ask: "doesn't God hate the Gentiles because of
their idolatry, immorality, and disregard for God's Law?"
But doesn't a similar attitude exist within the Church? Some
ask: "doesn't God hate materialists, homosexuals, and atheists?"
But the Lord said, "I take no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live"
(Ezekiel 33:11). Jonah's mission to Ninveh was proof enough that
God's love extended to all. Otherwise He would have destroyed
them all without warning.

Nineveh - Important to God

Throughout Jonah Nineveh has
been referred to as "the great city." Now the formula
phrase is broken in 3:3 with Nineveh described as "great
to God," a Hebrew idiom which means "very important."
The simple idiomatic understanding of the phrase makes 3:3 read:
"Nineveh, a very important city, required three days to
visit it." And on the surface level of the story this is
the intended meaning. But as we have seen, every word requires
examination in Jonah. The non-idiomatic meaning must also be
examined to see how it fits into the themes and underlying images
of the book. Nineveh was quite literally "important to God."
Proof consisted in the extensive measures the Lord employed to
deliver His message and messenger to them. In this phrase we
see how God viewed Nineveh. They really were very important to
Him. He loved them very much and wanted to avoid their destruction
if at all possible. By extension, Nineveh stands for all men,
and thus, all men are important to God.

3:4 Jonah proceeded67
into the city the first day and cried out4
to them: "In forty more days Nineveh will be overturned68."

Bare Minimum

Though Nineveh required three
days to properly visit it Jonah preached for only one day. In
that one day he said only five (Hebrew) words to them [f].
Jonah did not even preface his message with a "thus says
Yahweh" The Ninevites would not have known who Yahweh was
anyway. Nor did he endow his message with authority by proclaiming
"the God of the heavens, creator of the sea and the dry
ground says," which was the phrase he had used with the
pagan sailors. We cannot say for sure if Jonah gave a more elaborate
sermon to the men. Many commentators suggest that Jonah must
have preached a more extensive message or that his coming was
announced days or weeks before he arrived. But the sheer brevity
of the proclamation exemplifies something about Jonah's preaching
that the writer wanted to convey. It illustrates the bare minimum
effort that Jonah performed. Jonah did not have the disposition
to "go the extra mile" - at least not for the Gentile
Ninevites. Indeed, he did not go one iota beyond his obligation.
If any prior announcement of Jonah's arrival was given to Nineveh
it likely came from the sailors or those who heard the sailors'
story and not from Jonah himself. However, God took this meager
message and bare minimum effort and used it to awaken the Ninevite's
consciences. The threat of judgement alone was enough to do this.
Despite Jonah, salvation was all God's doing from beginning to
end.

God employs us in His work, though
He is not dependent upon our actions to save anyone. No one that
the Father has called to Himself since before Creation will be
lost. However, if we neglect the mandate to go out into the world
to preach the gospel then we are the losers. The wicked servant
in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) exemplifies
this principle. In that parable a master entrusted his wealth
to his servants and then left on a long journey. After the master
returned to collect on his investment from his servants, one
wicked servant told the master, "I knew you to be a hard
man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered
no seed and I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in
the ground. See, you have what is yours" (Matt 25:24-25).
That servant had the impression that his master reaped where
He did not sow. He figured that God's work would be done no matter
what he did, so he thought he might as well shirk his duties.
But the master showed this servant that it did matter; the servant
was the loser in the deal. If we neglect the Lord's command,
the Lord's work still gets accomplished (see Isaiah 55:10-11),
but we lose out.

Overturned in Forty Days

The term "forty days"
evokes the image of the Flood of Noah. Although there are other
references to "forty days" in the Bible, the intended
image seems apparent as the Flood due to the undertone of imminent
judgement and destruction. This allusion is enhanced by the likening
of Nineveh's sin to the sin of the world before the Flood (see
the comments in Nineveh's Sin later in this chapter).
But aside from this allusion to the Flood why did God delay forty
days? Wouldn't it have been less hassle for God to just destroy
Nineveh outright and save Himself the trouble of sending a difficult
character like Jonah to them? A hope for repentance embeds itself
within the forty day time delay.

But more than that, a hope for
repentance is contained within the word "overturned"
(haphak) itself. Haphak fundamentally means "change."
It can mean change for the worse, as in "destroy" or
it can mean to change for the better, as in "transform."
God announced, through Jonah, that things would change in Nineveh
- for better or worse. Other Hebrew words, such as shachath,
which strictly means to "ruin" or "destroy,"
could have been chosen if the only intended meaning was "destruction."
But haphak contains a hope of repentance for Nineveh.
It is as the prophet Jeremiah wrote:

7
"At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning
a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8 if
that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil,
I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.
9 Or at another moment I might speak concerning
a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;
10 if it does evil in My sight by not obeying
My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had
promised to bless it." (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

3:5 Now the men15
of Nineveh trusted69 in God17
and cried out4 for everyone - from the
most important3 to the least significant70
- to fast and wear sackcloth.

Ninevite Evangelists

The word "trusted"
in 3:5 is the Hebrew word aman. It carries the image of
the trust one puts in a parent or someone who nurtures you. Aman
is the same word used in describing the faith of Abraham: "Then
he [Abraham] believed (aman) in the Lord; and He reckoned
it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). This was the
kind of trust that these heathen men put into the One they only
knew as elohiym; it was the same trust that Abraham had.
Because elohiym can mean either "gods" or "the
one true God," we must determine its correct meaning by
the context. Since Yahweh recognized their repentance we understand
elohiym here to mean Yahweh, the one true God. Thus, the
men of Nineveh trusted in Yahweh, just as the pagan sailors had
done before them. And it was reckoned to them as righteousness.

When Jonah came to Nineveh he
cried out (qara) to them. But the men of Ninveh commandeered
Jonah's job and cried out (qara) for everyone to repent.
Qara can carry with it a sense of invitation. Coercion
was not a factor in their call to repentance. The repentant men
invited everyone to repent along with them. None were exempted
from the invitation. The rich were not exempted because of their
riches. The intelligent, the leaders, and the respected among
society were not exempted because of their status or special
skills. The poor, the unintelligent, the obscure, and the outcasts
were not exempted because of their disadvantages. All were invited
to join in the mass repentance.

The Source of Nineveh's Repentance

How was it that Nineveh repented
so quickly at such a meager message? As already suggested, perhaps
news of Jonah had already reached Nineveh. But any society ripe
for judgement from God must necessarily experience the symptoms
of their degeneracy. People certainly could look around at their
society and see that things were not right. Their response proved
that their consciences had not become seared beyond hope.

People can learn from sin at
three different levels. In the first, and highest level, we can
learn by listening to advice and observing the mistakes of others.
That can be enough to convince some of correct actions. In the
second level, a person disregards advice and examples and decides
that that they can commit a wrong without repercussions. But
one close call convinces them to change their ways. In the third
level, a person ignores several close calls, and changes their
ways only after suffering from the consequences of their actions.
But then there are those that ignore advice, examples, close
calls, and the suffering of consequences and still refuse to
change their ways. Only God knows if such are beyond hope. Nineveh
had ignored the evil growing in them thus far, but had undoubtedly
reaped some of their bitter harvest one way or another. Fortunately
for them God knew that they were not beyond hope. They had had
enough of themselves and were ripe for repentance.

3:6 When these words reached
the king of Nineveh he arose1 from his
throne, put away50 his robe of glory71,
clothed72 himself with sackcloth, and
sat down in the ashes73.

3:7 He called out for help16
and said that by decision74 of the king
and the members of the ruling class3
that in Nineveh: "Each peson is not to taste74
or drink anything and that each beast, herd, or flock is not
to feed or be watered.

3:8 "Let each man15
and beast be clothed72 in sackcloth
and let them all vehemently75cry
out4 to God17
and let all the men15turn away34
from their evil5ways76
and their violence77 that is in their
hands78.

3:9 "Who knows27?
God17 may turn away34
[from His intent] and relent79 and turn
away34 from His furious80anger81 so that we will not perish25."

The King Rises

When the words of the repentant
Ninevites reached (literally, "touched") the king he
changed his throne for ashes and his robe for sackcloth. He set
aside his symbols of pride, position, and accomplishments and
sat in worthlessness, for this is what the word epher
(ashes) figuratively means. The ubiquitous images of rising and
descending once again appear here. But unlike Jonah's descent
of chastisement the king's descent was of repentance. In the
king's repentance he rose from his throne. And so the Lord raises
him up to Himself as James said, "humble yourselves in the
presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you" (James 4:10).
Before the world his repentance was demonstrated by his descent
into the ashes. And though he sat in ashes before the world yet
he sat with God, as Isaiah wrote, "for thus says the high
and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, 'I dwell
on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly
of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive
the heart of the contrite'" Isaiah 57:15).

The Decree

A national crisis existed in
Nineveh. A fierce and terrifying storm of evil raged there. Surely
some, oblivious to their precarious situation, still slept in
unconcern as Jonah had earlier slept through the storm at sea.
When the king compelled all of Nineveh to join in calling out
for help he parallels the captain of the sailors who implored
Jonah to assist the sailors in their call for help. But the king
and the ruling class realized, just as the sailors did in their
storm, that the situation was beyond human control and they needed
to cry out for help. The same word that was used when the sailors
cried out for help in 1:5, zaag, is now used here for
the Ninevite rulers' call for help to the populace. Zaag
means to call for aid or assistance. For those who still slept
in unconcern the king wanted to wake them so they too could assist
in averting the inevitable disaster. The Apostle Paul elicited
similar invitations: "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the
dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Ephesians 5:14) and
"so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert
and sober" (I Thessalonians 5:6).

The leaders of Nineveh decided[g]
that everyone should show their repentance by fasting and wearing
sackcloth. The fast that God acknowledges is not a mere abstinence
from food. Isaiah tells us that a fast should be a manifestation
of a work in the heart (Isaiah 58:5-8). Even the animals were
included in this demonstration of mass repentance. Because the
Ninevites had many animal deities, the inclusion of animals in
their repentance showed that the Ninveites symbolically subjugated
their heathen gods before God. Moreover, all of the men and animals
were to vehemently (chozqah) call out to God. The strong
Hebrew verb chozqah denotes force and violence. Formerly,
an evil violence (chamac in 3:8) emanated from Nineveh
before God's face. Now a good violence (chozqah) rose
from Nineveh into God's presence.

The king completed the decree
with a hope that echoed the ship captain's in chapter one. The
ship captain said, "Perhaps the gods will consider us and
not let us perish" (1:6). And here the king said, "Who
knows? God may turn away [from His intent] and relent and turn
away from His furious anger so that we will not perish"
(3:9). In the same way, the sailors foreshadow the men of Nineveh.
Therefore our hopes are raised that Nineveh will also be preserved,
just as the sailors were.

Nineveh's Sin

Nineveh's "evil ways"
denotes a well-trodden path of wickedness that they traveled.
But as to their specific sin we only have the word "violence"
(chamac). Chamac means "violence," "cruelty,"
"robbing," and "injustice." This same word
characterized the people of the earth just prior to the Flood
(see Genesis 6:11,13), giving yet another allusion to Noah's
Flood. Nineveh was guilty of the same sin that caused God to
destroy the whole world. The Assyrians, with its capital of Nineveh,
were notorious for their cruelty. They would gouge out eyes,
cut off limbs, and a myriad of other maimings to intimidate people.
They would choose a town and behead every man, woman, and child.
They would then heap all of the heads into a huge pile near a
well-traveled road in order to intimidate the surrounding regions.
Then, without interference, they would take what they wanted
from whom they wanted.

The world today is filled with
chamac - violence, cruelty, robbing, and injustice. Who
or what has not been touched by it? Even the environment is a
victim of chamac. But it is not just the blatant physical
manifestations of chamac that God is concerned with. In
fact, God is primarily concerned with its manifestationin
the heart. We see this principle when Jesus said that, to God,
hate was equivalent to murder. Hate is the heart condition that
potentially leads to physical violence. The commandment to not
murder (Exodus 20:13) is already broken with hate without any
physical expression. In the same way, violence originates in
the heart and can sometimes manifest itself only in the imagination.
The call was for the Ninevites to turn away from "their
violence that is in their hands (kaph)." The word
kaph here denotes that which was in their control. Some
with violent imaginations refrain from physical expression only
because they lack the power or opportunity to be physically effective.
Others specialize in emotional and psychological chamac.
But God detests chamac so much that He justifiably destroyed
the whole world in a great deluge.

3:10 When God17
saw from their actions30 that they had
turned away34 from their evil5ways76God17relented79 and did not bring30
the devastation5 upon them that He had
spoken of.

What God Saw

When God saw from their actions
that they had turned away from their evil ways what did God see?
When Samuel looked at Jesse's sons to see which one the Lord
had chosen to be the king of Israel the Lord told Samuel that,
"God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I Samuel
16:7). The actions of the Ninevites reflected the real work that
had occurred in their hearts; and that is what God saw. The actions
they performed to show their repentance did not justify them
before God. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote,
"Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident;
for, 'The righteous man shall live by faith'" (Galatians
3:11) and, "For if a law had been given which was able to
impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based
on law." (Gal 3:21b). Neither Abraham nor the men of Nineveh
had the benefit of the Mosaic Law. But their trust (aman)
in God declared them all as righteousness before the Lord.

However, if an authentic work
had occurred in the hearts of the men of Nineveh then good actions
would naturally be produced. It is as James said, "I will
show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b). When Paul
stated that "For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result
of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9) he
immediately followed it with the statement, "For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" (Ephesians
2:10).

Sacrifice for All Time

In chapter one the captain prefigured
the king of Nineveh and the sailors foreshadowed the actions
of the people of Nineveh. In the end they both turned (shuv)
to God. This has a significant implication. If the sailors attempted
to turn back to the dry land and could not prevail until they
had given Jonah as a sacrifice, then the people of Nineveh also
could not prevail to their "dry ground" of salvation
until they too gave a sacrifice. That is, Nineveh's repentance
could not be recognized without a sacrifice. But we see no sacrifice
of this sort occurring in Nineveh. For that matter, what kind
of sacrifice was Jonah anyway, for the Psalmist says, "No
man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom
for him - for the redemption of his soul is costly" (Psalm
49:7-8a). This brings us back to the sailors having tossed Jonah
into the sea as a type for Christ's sacrifice. Salvation came
to the sailors not because of Jonah, but because of Christ. Christ's
sacrifice affected all of time (see Hebrews 9:25-28). Thus, retroactively
the sailors and the people of Nineveh obtained salvation through
the sacrifice of Christ. And subsequently, Christ's blood allows
recognition of our repentance before God.

God's Sovereign Plans

Just as God had a mission for
the fish He also had a mission for Jonah. Jonah thought he could
escape first by running and then by dying. The implication then
is that Nineveh also has an appointment - an appointment to repentance
and salvation. Hence, come hell or high water God's plans would
be accomplished. Not even a sour prophet could prevent God's
plans. The Lord said that His word, "will not return to
Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding
in the matter for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). And so
Nineveh received the salvation that God had ordained for them.

Footnotes for
Chapter 3

[f] The writer of Jonah seems
to drawing a quantitative contrast between the five words of
Jonah given to the pagan Ninevites and the five books of Moses
given to the Jews. This aspect is explored in the section Accountability
to God in the fourth chapter.

[g] In 3:7 the Hebrew word taam
appears twice and means both "decision" and "taste."
So 3:7 can amusingly be read as "by taste of the king...each
man is not to taste."